The Morning After
by KuraiKitty
Summary: The Black Fang attacks the group while they first arrive on Dread Isle, and they leave many questions in their wake. Why is Florina missing, and can love bloom between enemies? Many pairings. Chapter 2 up.
1. Chapter 1

(This is quite the unorthodox story with unorthodox pairings… if you disapprove of completely strange but makes-sense pairings, well, there's quite frankly nothing I can do about it, is there? Now, before I get chastised on my use of the name 'Makar' for Florina's pegasus, she states this as her mount's name when you speak to Hector in the chapter _Noble Lady of Caelin_. Also, it's male! She says, "Good boy." Just telling you. I don't want to get any grief for not stating the existance of a pegasus mare named Huey. x.x

I do not own Fire Emblem, though I wish I did… Le sigh.)

The dawn broke slowly over the horizon, with the gentle lights of dawn gracing the rolling emerald hills and serene forest pines with its gentle array of gold and pink lights. Touched and roused by the morning rays, the birds now began to sing their cheerful chorus into the early morning breeze, feeling the dew clinging pathetically to their brilliantly colored feathers as if they were infants clinging to their mothers. A soft breeze continued to walk gently through the mountainous peaks, gently caressing the great assortment of life that graced them.

So, too, did a girl feel the gentle caress of the seemingly imaginary man that lay next to her; soft, butterfly touches of the hand as it ran up and down her face. She welcomed the warmth of the hand, cuddling against it momentarily. Her soft, velvety skin of her cheek met with the rough calluses of the hand that touched her, making the thin girl pause for a moment before quickly doing a double take. She hadn't remembered the tactician barking orders at her and the rest of the troops to share a tent with anyone the night before, and certainly did not remember doing so voluntarily. No, she was afraid of men… dreadfully so… and no women in the camp had such rough, calloused hands. No matter how much they fought, they would never have let their hands degrade themselves to such a level of masculinity.

She took a brief moment to think about where she was, opening her sapphire eyes to look at the room around her. Strangely enough, her snowy white pegasus, Makar, was not there to greet her, nor was the familiar blue hue of her tent surrounding her. Also, she noted, she was in a room with walls, which immediately told her that she was not with the rest of the army, either. They had arranged to sleep outdoors in the Dread Isle for some time now, and there were no inns on the dastardly island… this alone confused her, and even more so when she discovered what she was laying on.

The young teenager found herself lying on a soft bed that had obviously come at quite the hefty price tag; a soft, plush bed, reinforced with what felt like steel springs for support… something relatively new for the time. The quality of the material she lay on was astounding, though she knew better at the moment than to dwell on the softness of the fleece blankets she now lay upon… even though it did indeed feel very good against her. She felt the thin cotton of the sheet that lay atop her, moving a hand to pull at it so that she could better shield herself against the brisk morning winds.

Only then did she notice that there was something amiss when the sheet was promptly tugged back. What was worse, she noted, was that her normally brushed and well-kept orchid hair was now strewn about her; it was now tussled and rather tangled, with the rubber bands that held the tips of her hair under control now missing. The silky lavender strands now lay prone against what she could only guess was an expensive feather pillow, and the silky pillowcase now supported her thin neck.

Freezing out of shock, she noted something else… she was clothed only by the sheet that was now being pulled away. Shame overcame her initial shyness, causing her to instinctively tug back. Upon receiving her prize from the strange tugging force, she made sure not to turn around to look behind her as she struggled to cover herself. Turning her head swiftly towards the window, she noted that her armor had been haphazardly thrown to the side, but was surprisingly bundled in one place along with her riding outfit.

What caught her attention was the other bundle of clothing that lay next to hers… and she_ knew_ that they didn't belong to her or anyone else in camp.

Her eyes widened, and dread filled her heart… carefully, slowly, she turned her head around to see the man who inevitably slept behind her.

In the midst of the early hours of the morning, Florina let out a blood-curdling scream that she could have sworn echoed through the mountaintops as she was confronted with the sleepy face of Lloyd Reed, the White Wolf of the Black Fang.

--

Perhaps it was immature of Lloyd to drift in the realm of dreams to the land of his birth, but, despite himself, every man longs to return to whatever home had been cast aside when they had taken to a living far from familiar skies. He belonged to a group of mercenaries that were hired for the assassination of corrupt politicians and dictators… yes, the Black Fang was indeed a noble cause to fight for, but who didn't want to return home after several years of putting one's life on the line? Lloyd was no exception to this, despite his rank in the organization, and neither was his loud and rebellious brother, Linus.

Now, Linus was not truly as troublesome as some made him out to be; he was troublesome mostly due to the fact that it annoyed others so much. As such, his brother refused to hate him for it, and thus, they kept a strong bond of friendship and brotherhood between them. Yes, they argued, but it was not enough to tear that bond asunder... even that vile woman, the evil seductress Sonia, could make them turn on one another in bouts of anger. But this did not concern him, not now... for now, in this rare time of blissful dreams, he could once again immerse himself in the childhood spirit he had lost so long ago.

Dreams full of reminiscing about his childhood ran through his mind, and even the face of his loving mother had surfaced in the dream… He felt himself once again carefree and naive, dashing through fields of emerald grasses with his brother and their friend Nino, the small female mage with eyes bluer than the skies and hair that matched the fields they dashed through. He could still hear the girl's kind smile, her joyous laughs as they ran through the fields, even as she struggled to catch up with her two elder friends. Lloyd's serious and duty-centered nature had not yet surfaced, allowing him to relive the days of bliss that was his early childhood years…

With Florina's scream of utmost shock, fear, and revulsion, Lloyd's vision abruptly shattered before he too woke up, his eyes as wide as hers as he futilely reached for a sword that was no longer at his side. Sitting up, he quickly gathered his nerves, now focusing his energy on calming the girl who, though he had never recalled meeting her before, now sat on his bed, clearly horrified by his presence and covered only with the sheet she had stolen from him. Unfortunately, her reaction to her nude status served only to spook her further, as Lloyd too had only been covered by the same white sheet. Now, she froze, torn between looking away from the less-than clothed man or to keep staring at him so he did not try to attack her while her back was turned.

Flushing a bright shade of crimson, he quickly cursed, falling off the bed in an attempt to dash under the covers. Throwing on his clothes with speed that would have made the swiftest pegasi cry in shame, he quickly composed himself before trying the extreme task of calming her down. He tried the standard approach, simply looking at her with his gentle eyes before softly asking her a question or two; that usually broke the ice.

"I… know this is odd, lass… but… who are you?" Lloyd began, only to see her eyes widen to an almost impossible degree as she scooted away from him as far as she could go. Being that she was on a bed, of course, she quickly let out a sharp yelp of terror and surprise as she fell backwards, falling on her back to meet the hard, wooden floor. Not letting the pain stop her, she continued to quickly shuffle backwards; since she was unable to gather the strength in her legs to stand, she made do with simply scuttling away in any way possible. She craned her neck towards the window, wondering for a moment if she could survive such a high fall from this point in the mountains.

"Aah…. AAAAAAAAHH!" Her instinctive fear of all men in general kicked in the moment he began to move forward, and her scream of horror served to rattle his nerves and deliver a sharp blow to his ear drums. The sandy blonde man stopped for a minute, firmly convinced that what she was doing was no act; she had had no knowledge of the previous night, either. So, then… how had they ended up in this predicament? He would have to ask the maids later… somehow, those women knew everything. Upon hearing a whimper of fear from the lavender-haired beauty before him, however, his mind immediately returned to the present in order to swiftly find a way to end the girl's frightened status.

"I do not wish to hurt you… but may I be blessed with your name?" His lack of knowledge about his opponents was quickly revealed, as Florina now struggled towards that said window, clutching the sheet against her less-than-clothed form. Lloyd had no idea about her rather severe case of androphobia, nor did he know that he now spoke in the exact same manner as the army's local lecher, Sain. It made perfect sense for her to be afraid… or, at least, in the Lycian army's eyes. The Black Fang only knew of an army, led by evil nobles of Pherae, Ostia, and Caelin… they did not need to know about the girl who was afraid of men, nor did they need to know about her greatest nemesis, the lecherous cavalier.

Genuinely fearing for her safety, he ran to her, catching her by the waist just as she was about to leap out the window. The sheet made it quite hard to hold her steady, considering that she slid from it if he did not hold her perfectly still.

By now, it no surprise to hear her scream again, but he did not expect her to lash out like a savage beast just to get away. Rather, he expected her to continue in her usual pattern, freezing whenever he got close; that would have made things much easier. Now, he was stuck wrestling the poor girl back into the room, away from the windowsill, and onto the ground, trying to get her to at least hear him out.

"Please! I mean no harm. Now… lass, I'll, urm… leave the room so you can change." Getting up, he moved towards the door, the blush on his flustered face evident as he moved out of the room. Just as he exited, however, the oak door reopened, with the same man sticking his head inside the room to tell her one l ast tidbit of information.

"I'm sorry I do not recall the events past… but just remember my name, should you get lost here. Tell them to direct you towards Lloyd… or, ask for the White Wolf. That will usually suffice." Smiling gently and ignoring her look of shock (she had donned that enough to the point where he scarcely noticed anymore), he left the room, leaving the girl to hear his boots hitting the floor outside the room before hearing the rhythmic steps fade away as he lengthened the distance between them. She looked towards her clothes for a moment before the entirety of the situation had finally sunk in to her shocked and confused mind…

She, Florina, a Pegasus Knight of Ilia and servant of House Caelin, was now in the hands of her enemy; the notorious organization known to the world as the Black Fang.

(More chapters to come. Read and review... or I won't update. I have the first five chapters done, so no worries. I should update pretty soon, after two or three reviews... I hope.)


	2. Chapter 2

((All right... I forgot a bit about this fic, I confess. To those who've read this story as well as Worlds Collide, you'll notice that these chapters are significantly shorter than in the other story. Well, to be perfectly honest, chapters one through six are already written for this story, and it wasn't up to my standards. And yet... when I tried to change it to make it longer and more descriptive, it just didn't flow the same. So, from seven on, the chapters will be significantly longer, mmkay:)

Concerning a received review from Lemurian-Girl, yes, I know that her supports mention Huey, but I prefered the name Makar. Apparently my phrasing of that was a bit off... I was trying to tell reviewers not badgering me that Huey was missing, not telling them that Huey never existed at all. Sorry for the mixup. :p ))

Ch.2

"Linus! Linus! Where are you!" Lloyd roared as he ran down the halls, passing the flinching forms of many underlings as he stampeded by. Their leader was not normally one to be so rash, let alone to act so much like his brother. Even now, his anger and confusion were clearly evident in his voice, leaving the rest of the Black Fang to put the pieces together for themselves.

"Your brother is over there, White Wolf." A voice cooed from the corner of the room, making Lloyd freeze in his tracks. Stepping from behind the curtain to her room, Ursula smiled at him as she pointed in the other direction. The blue-haired Valkyrie knew better than to let Lloyd lose his temper; though it was a rare sight to see, it was always catastrophic. She wanted to avoid this at all costs… plus, seeing the man was reward enough. Smiling coyly at him, she laughed a bit before walking calmly back into her room to read more of the spell tomes she had recently received from Lady Sonia herself. To be rewarded with a Fimbulvter tome was a rare prize, after all, and the texts it contained were a marvelous sight to behold.

"My thanks, Blue Crow." Turning away from her, Lloyd sped off in the direction she pointed to. He cared not that he trampled several servants beneath his boots as he ran through the stone corridors of the Hideout, nor did he care when Sonia gave him that same cold glare that would normally send chills down his spine. No, he was intent on finding his brother, and he was more than ready to interrogate him concerning the girl in his room.

"…" Taking Lloyd by surprise, Jaffar slipped from the shadows, holding a stunned Linus by the collar. All was not as it seemed, however; the red-haired assassin kept one of the twin knives at the other man's throat, rendering escape impossible. Normally, he would not do such a thing for another, but the cacophony had proven far too great to ignore. Dropping the stunned man to the ground, Jaffar looked coldly down at him before hearing Lloyd speak.

"Thank you, Angel of Death. By the way… Nino was searching for you. Best be off." The said assassin paused for a moment, not quite sure how to handle the latter piece of information. Nino, the adopted daughter of the Lady Sonia… a cheerful but naive child, she was firmly convinced that the mistress of the Black Fang leader Brendan Reed was her true mother. As such, she was always looked at with disdain by her foster mother, but was always welcomed with open arms by the Reed brothers. As such, Jaffar knew better than to leave the child to her mindless searching. As swiftly as he appeared, the silent warrior was gone, melting into the shadows as if he had never existed.

"…I heard you wanted me. Why? Out with it, brother." Linus growled, standing up and brushing off his clothes. Though slightly taller than his brother, he was still the younger of the two, and therefore needed to address Lloyd with some respect. But siblings would be siblings, and so they were; Linus quite frankly didn't give a damn about his younger status. His pride had been dented, and there was to be no fixing it for a while. Linus Reed's brown hair was slicked back, and carried a red tinge to it; a drastic difference from his brother's unkept bangs and slightly longer gold strands. Linus was of a stronger build than his brother, and was proud of it; however, Lloyd had proven on many an occasion that his precision and speed with a blade proved far more deadly than Linus's strong but wild swings.

"There was a girl in my room this morning. Who is she, and why is she not of the Fang?" Lloyd asked calmly. Now that his search was over, his anger was sated; however, his curiosity and confusion were far from being satisfied. He wanted to know who she was, where she had come from, and, most importantly of all, why she had been in his room. Apparently, she had no idea of what had happened either, and she was clearly afraid of him; questioning her was a seemingly impossible task, at least until she had at least calmed herself down a bit.

"…don't you remember? We took her yesterday from the camp of that Pheraen shrimp in order to convince them to leave. They didn't leave, so we kept her. Plus, Sonia wanted her for some reason… something about blood, remember?" Linus told him with an arched brow. Lloyd was not one to forget things, and, surprisingly enough, he too was met with the same expression.

"I remember none of it. Was I not informed?" He asked, blinking his eyes momentarily before, realizing his brother was serious, he sighed, running a hand through his hair as if it was going to relieve his stress.

"…you were there with me. Are you sure you're okay?" Linus asked carefully, putting on a fake look of concern while placing his hand on his brother's forehead. The message was painfully clear; he wanted to make sure his brother wasn't sick in the head, and was feeling for a fever to make sure.

"Of course I am." Lloyd moved his hand away with a sense of general annoyance, feigning ease as he watched his brother snickering at him. He in truth was greatly perturbed… why couldn't he remember anything from the day before? And, furthermore, why had his brother's memory remained unaffected? If he was there with him and neither of them could remember, they could easily tie it to the crafts of the evil Lycian lords. However, considering they had gotten away with the shy one and that Linus now recalled everything, all his questions began to focus on himself… and the girl in his room.

"Pshaw. You never are. I mean, after all, how many captors take their prisoners out of the dungeons to dine with?" Rolling his eyes, he allowed himself to be punched playfully by his brother as he laughed in response. However, once the words sank into Lloyd's mind, he looked up at his brother with an arched brow.

"What do you mean? Who went into the dungeons?" As soon as the question left his lips, dread filled his heart that he would somehow already know the answer that his brother was about to tell him.

"You." Frowning at his brother's constant stream of seemingly idiotic questions, Linus scowled at Lloyd, as if prompting his brother to tell him that the joke was over. Sadly enough, Lloyd wished he could have said the same thing. His mind swam with questions, and the moment one was answered, ten more took their place.

"I beg your leave, brother." Feeling the sharp pain of a migraine beginning to set in, Linus could only stare inquisitively at his brother as the blonde swordsman walked absentmindedly back to his own room. Though Linus argued to himself for a moment, he vouched to let Lloyd find out on his own that the girl was too afraid to leave the room.

--

_What have I done to deserve this? Did I not pray to Saint Elimine enough…? Perhaps she has forsaken me for not confiding with her clerics, but I so loathed speaking to Serra… oh, that was a terrible thing to think… _Such thoughts ran through the poor Pegasus Knight's mind as she sat there on the floor, stunned, but at least properly clothed. At least the man had been decent enough to leave her be as she changed… considering the men they had already encountered from the organization, Florina had thought all of the Black Fang to be vicious thugs, the likes of whom no longer deserved to be classified as men, but as savages. And yet, this man had helped her… or, at least, tried to.

_What are you talking about, Florina! This man might have taken advantage of you, for all you know! _Slapping herself on the forehead, she slumped forward, letting her forehead strike the floorboards as tears threatened to escape from the corners of her eyes. Her mind was confused, her body was tired, and she wished only to return home… if one would consider her army to be a home. Perhaps a second home would be a far more accurate description, as she considered Lady Lyndis to be a closer family to her than her sisters, sometimes, with all their bickering and whatnot. Sitting up, she made do with leaning on the side of the bed, allowing her head to crane upwards to stare at the ceiling.

Little did she know it then, but all this talking to herself was actually serving to calm her down significantly… when she couldn't confide information with her steed, it turned out that her own mind was the best barrier from the outside world, however temporary. In fact, she scarcely noticed at all when Lloyd entered the room, as his light feet and his ease with silence made his entrance all the more undetectable by the momentarily detached girl. It was strange to him at first that she did not shriek like a banshee upon his entry, but took it as a blessing rather than as a precaution.

Though he had thought for a moment to stay at a distance to rouse her from her apparent daydream, her open eyes seemed to signal awareness. So, gingerly walking to a nearby chair, he simply sat there for a moment, putting his head in his hands and wondering just what he was going to do… with her, as well as with his lack of memories.


End file.
